Under the Shade -

≪ 2007年10月 ≫

更新日順スレッドを表示スレッドで表示新着順に表示

2007.10.29

[211] Jasper

From：

Under the Shade編集部

My dad and his wife are on holiday in Vietnam at the moment, so for the last week I've been staying at their house and looking after their dog, Jasper.

I'm not sure what kind of dog Jasper is; I'm not very good at identifying dog breeds. He is very good-natured and friendly, he loves going for walks, and he is obsessed with chasing sticks and tennis balls.

When we go for a walk, every time I throw a stick to him he'll pick it up and carry it, along with all the earlier sticks I've thrown. Sometimes, by the end of the walk, he has about seven or eight sticks in his mouth. I usually stop throwing sticks once he has this many because I don't want him to have to carry them all...

PS. Thank you to Jenna for sending me a lovely message about my blog. I'm always glad to hear that people are enjoying reading it!

日本語訳はこちら
http://www.c-player.com/ac55665/thread/1100058839380

2007.10.29 06:10:16

返信 (1通)

2007.10.25

[209] Magpies

From：

Under the Shade編集部

I took this photo last weekend, while I was away at my friend's parent's holiday house. This bird, which is about the size of a crow, flew right up to the table where we were eating to steal food from the plates.

This bird is called a magpie, and they're very common in Australia. They have a strange call, which I think is quite beautiful. You can often hear them at dawn. It's hard to describe their call, but you can listen to this recording:
http://www.anbg.gov.au/sounds/magpie-group.mp3

Magpies are very aggressive when they've just had babies. They often swoop down at people or dogs that go too close to their nests, and sometimes give them a peck on the head as they fly past!

日本語訳はこちら
http://www.c-player.com/ac55665/thread/1100058638721

2007.10.25 07:28:57

返信 (1通)

2007.10.22

[207] Weekend Away

From：

Under the Shade編集部

On the weekend I went my friend's parent's holiday house. It was down the coast from Melbourne in a place called Mount Martha, near some nice beaches.

There were seven of us there, and it was a lot of fun. After we had dinner, we got drunk and played board games. We played a word game called 'Articulate!' and a dice game called 'Yahtze'.

I was a bit sick with the flu, so I went to bed "early" at 2:30 am, but everyone else stayed up until 4 am.

Even though we were only away for one night, it was really good to go somewhere outside Melbourne with my friends. We'll have to do it again soon.

日本語訳はこちら
http://www.c-player.com/ac55665/thread/1100058476088

2007.10.22 08:48:49

返信 (1通)

2007.10.18

[205] Ned Kelly

From：

Under the Shade編集部

I mentioned the outlaw Ned Kelly earlier (http://www.c-player.com/ac55665/thread/1100052188091) and I said I'd talk about him in more detail in a future entry. Well, this is that entry!

Ned Kelly is interesting because he was an outlaw, but lots of Australians see him as kind of a hero.

Ned Kelly was born the child of Irish convicts in Australia in 1855. After he and his family were persecuted by police for years, he became an outlaw and bank robber.

He famously made himself a suit of armour and a helmet and fought against the police. Eventually he was captured, and he was hung for his crimes. His famous last words were, "Such is life."

Ned Kelly is seen by many Australians as a hero, even though he was little more than a criminal. He is seen as heroic because he battled against a corrupt police force, even though he knew it would end in his death. He has been turned into a symbol of the fight against unfair authority, something that is important in the Australian psyche.

Incidentally, Ned Kelly was also the subject of the first feature-length film ever made. It was called The Story of the Kelly Gang, and it was made in Australia in 1906.

If you want to read more about Ned Kelly, here's a link to a good wikipedia page I found about him:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ned_Kelly

日本語訳はこちら
http://www.c-player.com/ac55665/thread/1100058274351

2007.10.18 07:44:19

返信 (1通)

2007.10.15

[203] Melbourne Transport

From：

Under the Shade編集部

Melbourne is a large city. Even though the population density isn't high, the city is very spread out. Because of that, there's quite a large public transport system, which includes trains, buses, and trams.

Trams are a convenient way of getting around Melbourne, but they're not very fast, because they have to wait for traffic lights and people take a long time to get on and off.

Most of the trams in Melbourne these days look like the one shown in my photograph. I miss Melbourne's old trams, the one's that were around when I was a kid. They looked much cooler. There are still a few around that operate in the city - you can see one in my first blog entry:
http://www.c-player.com/ac55665/thread/1100036629756

日本語訳はこちら
http://www.c-player.com/ac55665/thread/1100058109710

2007.10.15 07:36:34

返信 (1通)

2007.10.11

[201] Melbourne Pubs

From：

Under the Shade編集部

This is a photo of the Great Northern Hotel, a pub near my house. Melbourne has a lot of old pubs in stone corner buildings like this one.

Many local pubs are good places to have a meal and relax in a more casual atmosphere. Some also have live music or comedy nights, and you can see good (or sometimes bad) local bands or stand-up comedy, often for free.

Some pubs even have 'open mike' nights, where any amateur musician can get up and play a few songs.

日本語訳はこちら
http://www.c-player.com/ac55665/thread/1100057900672

2007.10.11 07:01:26

返信 (1通)

2007.10.09

[198] Local Indian Restaurant

From：

Under the Shade編集部

I found a great Indian restaurant near my house called 'Kake di Hatti'. It's so popular that I usually have to book a table before going to eat there, even though it's not an expensive restaurant.

It's also a BYO restaurant. BYO stands for "bring your own", and it means that you can bring your own beer or wine into the restaurant to drink with your meal. The restaurant charges you a small fee for this, which is called "corkage" (named for removing the cork from a wine glass).

BYO is quite common in cheaper restaurants in Australia. This is because restaurants need to buy an expensive license in order to serve alcohol, but it's cheaper and easier for them to get a BYO license.

日本語訳はこちら
http://www.c-player.com/ac55665/thread/1100057791286

2007.10.09 07:29:53

返信 (1通)

2007.10.04

[196] Acland Street

From：

Under the Shade編集部

I wrote earlier this week about visiting St Kilda, a cool Melbourne suburb on with a popular beach. Another reason that people come to St Kilda is to hang out on Acland Street.

Acland Street is full of good cafes, bars, restaurants and cake shops. Years ago, in the 30s and 40s, this part of Melbourne was the centre of the Melbourne Jewish community, and there are a couple of famous Jewish cake shops that still remain from that time. The cakes are amazing, and the shop is always busy with people waiting to buy something.

There are also plenty of other shops selling cool things, from books to home wares. I don't go to St Kilda that often, but it's good for a change of pace. It has a very different feel to areas where I usually hang out, like Brunswick Street and Degraves Street.

日本語訳はこちら
http://www.c-player.com/ac55665/thread/1100057534298

2007.10.04 07:11:24

返信 (1通)

2007.10.01

[193] St Kilda Pier

From：

Under the Shade編集部

I had a friend from Tokyo visit last week, and she wanted to go to a Melbourne beach. It's still a bit cold to really enjoy the beach properly at the moment, so I took her to Saint Kilda (usually shortened to 'St Kilda'), a cool Melbourne suburb that has a good beach, but also has plenty of good cafes, restaurants, bars and parks.

St Kilda used to be a famous Melbourne nightlife area, with some great music venues and bars. However, it has now become a popular and expensive place to live, so many of the old music venues and clubs have closed down because of people complaining about the noise. It's still a good place to visit though, and there are lots of interesting things to see here.

The photo above was taken on the St Kilda pier. This pier stretches out into the bay and protects the sailboats that are moored here. There are wild penguins living on the pier, although they're hard to see - we saw one hiding in the rocks. A sign here said that the Japanese city of Obu had donated money to help save the penguins living in this area... Thanks, Obu!

日本語訳はこちら
http://www.c-player.com/ac55665/thread/1100057371802

2007.10.01 07:46:41

返信 (1通)